Politics

Double social welfare payment to be made to over 1 million people this week

January cost-of-living welfare bonus was announced in budget last October

Some 1.3 million people will receive the double social welfare payment, which cost €342 million in the budget laid out last October. Photograph: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Some 1.3 million people will receive the double social welfare payment, which cost €342 million in the budget laid out last October. Photograph: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Jack Power
Mon Jan 29 2024 - 09:46

A double social welfare payment announced as a January cost of living “bonus” in Budget 2024 is to be paid out to people this week.

Some 1.3 million people will receive the double social welfare payment, which cost €342 million in the budget laid out last October. The bonus payment will be made to a wide range of social welfare recipients, including pensioners, jobseekers, lone parents, and those receiving disability allowance and carer’s allowance.

People will be eligible for the once-off January bonus if they have been receiving social welfare payments for at least a year. The double lump sum payment will be paid on the same basis as the usual Christmas social welfare bonus.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the bonus due to be paid to welfare recipients this week was aimed at helping families and other households to cope with cost of living increases. “This is about putting more money back into your pocket and recognising that families continue to feel the pinch, particularly after the Christmas period,” she said.

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“This will see a double lump sum weekly payment being made to support 1.3 million people – the likes of our pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, lone parents and low income families,” she said.

Figures released by the Department of Social Protection detail that more 500,000 people on the State pension will receive the double payment, as well as 116,350 people on Jobseeker’s Allowance, 158,150 people on Disability Allowance, and 43,606 people availing of the One Parent Family payment, along with thousands of people in receipt of 27 other social welfare schemes and supports.

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Jack Power

Jack Power

Jack Power is acting Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times